The Woods Coffee To Open in Barkley

A new Woods Coffee location will open on Dec. 10, the same day that the Barkley Regal Cinema celebrates its opening with three days of two-dollar films. It’ll be the only non-Starbucks coffee joint in Barkley Village, not to mention the only one with a drive-thru.

Wes Herman, who owns all 12 Woods cafés currently in operation—Barkley to be No. 13--, said he’d been working closely with the Talbot group for the past five years to create a version of The Woods that would suit Barkley.

“Every store is individually designed,” Herman said. “You’ve got to take the local neighborhood into account, and meet them halfway.”

For Barkley, Herman explained, that individual design means more group areas including a separate meeting room, plenty of space and two fireplaces. These features, he said, are geared towards the business crowd already present in Barkley and the “nighttime crowd” that he thinks will accompany the movie theater.

Bill Hale, who works in Barkley, doubts that the new Woods’ atmosphere will match its surroundings. “They have a cabin-y theme, and that doesn’t really go with Barkley,” he said. Hale avoids The Woods in other parts of town already, because he doesn’t like the names for their drink sizes (“Spruce for small”) or their “pretty large Christian affiliation.”“Every time I go there, there’s some kind of Bible study group,” Hale said. 

Although he said Starbucks isn’t his favorite chain, and he likes to support the local economy, he plans to keep avoiding The Woods.

Dale, a community member who has lived in the county for five years and would not provide his last name, thought that the inception of The Woods in Barkley might put a “small dent” in Starbucks’ customer base, but not enough to threaten either of their two locations.

He said he’d continue to buy his coffee exclusively at Starbucks, since he already comes to Haggen to shop and because “Woods’ coffee is better, but more expensive.” Dale said he prioritizes cost and convenience in daily life and that The Woods is “too far out of the way.”

Kalin Brionez, who works at HeathTecna on Woburn St., anticipates that The Woods’ drive-thru will help her, “especially on break time to avoid big lines,” she said.

“From working fairly close, I can say they’re going to get a huge amount of business,” she added. “I don’t think Starbucks will ever die, though.”

“What’s Starbucks?” laughed Wes Herman. “There are subtle differences between our stores. Our sites are family founded, built and designed around the local community. Our staff is phenomenal and I think they give more personal attention.”

Herman also plans to use the Barkley Woods location to pilot a new method for serving cold drinks: iced coffee, tea and more will flow from a tap, like beer.

“It’s the new thing for coffee,” he said.

Barkley will be the only location to offer the coffee fountain for now. Herman is testing the technique there before implementing it at his other cafés.

Regardless of whether Starbucks or The Woods emerge as Barkley’s favorite coffee shop, all of the construction and sudden growth in the neighborhood points toward a mood that Barkley is ripe for chage.

When the Regal Cinema opens, Herman said, “It will make downtown look like nothing. You put a theater of that size in our community, and it will change everything.”

Compared to twenty years ago, he said, “When Barkley was first coming out of the ground, now we’re seeing a tremendous amount of activity.”

The Woods in Barkley will be the seventh Woods in Bellingham. The next location to open is in Lakeway in the old Lychee Buffet building, Herman said.